All war is based on deception
by FrancisLF
Summary: When you're fighting the good fight, you do what you can however weak you are. And sometimes what you can is more than you could if you were stronger. BTVSBirds of Prey crossover
1. Prologue: Are You Ready To Be Strong?

Disclaimer: Birds of Prey (and supporting cast) belong to DC Comics. Buffy characters belong to Joss Wheedon and Mutant Enemy. Don't sue please.

Timeline: Should be obvious. Next part will be three months later.

Almost irrelevant changes to DC cannon: the Robin suit in the case in the Batcave belongs to Stephanie, not Jason. Leslie tried to save Spoiler in War Games and failed before leaving Gotham.

Any other mistakes I make with cannon are consequences of Superboy punching the time stream.

Timeline: Chosen (BTVS)/The Battle for Metropolis (DC)

Could I have a volunteer to beta for me please?

Oracle looked up in irritation at the touch in her mind. She opened her communicator to the most likely suspect. "J'onn. Was that you?"

"No, Oracle." replied the Martian Manhunter, a touch of strain in his voice.

Oracle then heard the complete message. Her immediate reaction was "Damnit! I don't have time for strength. I'm fighting to save the world here."

That didn't stop Oracle being flooded with power. "Thanks." Oracle smiled. "Now go away and let me fight this battle."

With that, Oracle returned her attention to her computer and coordinating the Battle for Metropolis, her newfound strength irrelevant.


	2. 1: Teacher Teacher I Declare

Disclaimer: Birds of Prey (and supporting cast) belong to DC Comics. Buffy characters belong to Joss Wheedon and Mutant Enemy. Don't sue please. 

Timeline: Three months after the prologue (Chosen and Battle for Metropolis).

Almost irrelevant changes to DC cannon: the Robin suit in the case in the Batcave belongs to Stephanie, not Jason. Leslie tried to save Spoiler in War Games and failed before leaving Gotham.

Any other mistakes I make with cannon are consequences of Superboy punching the time stream.

Timeline: Chosen (BTVS)/The Battle for Metropolis (DC)

Could I have a volunteer to beta for me please?

"You want me to what?" Huntress was startled. "Well, I suppose that's why I'm wearing this." Huntress gestured at her suit, hardly her normal Birds of Prey attire.

"Infiltration of a possible cult." Oracle barely looked up from her computer. "I'm having one last go at breaking into their systems before sending you in."

Huntress paced round the plane, taking care not to trip over any of the trailing computer cables. "But infiltration of an English girl's public school? And can't the all-seeing Oracle break school security?"

"Private school. In England they're called public schools. Long story. And no. But Salix can't break mine either." Oracle looked somewhat chagrined by her admission. "But an English girl's school shouldn't be that bad."

Zinda poked her head round the cabin door. "St. Trinian's was one too."

Huntress smirked. She also realised that no one who didn't know Oracle would even have spotted the hesitation as Oracle looked up St. Trinian's. Huntress continued "St. Trinian's was fictional, Zinda."

"Hopefully this place won't be like that." Oracle wasn't appearing to even look at her screens. "Your briefing's to your right, Huntress. And St. Trinians was only fictionalised." Huntress might not always like Oracle, but there were reasons she was good to work for her.

The printer nearest to Huntress printed a couple of pages, which Huntress picked up and scanned, commenting out loud. "Jenny Calendar Memorial Academy? Strong emphasis on athletics and teaching the girls to defend themselves? Sounds good. Girls only? Invitation only? No fees? Something's odd."

"That's not the oddest thing" Oracle said "Every single member of the board was not just from Sunnydale but on the last bus out."

"You don't think it wasn't Superboy Prime or the Society?" The fate of Sunnydale was a common subject for idle speculation, but recent events had taken their toll on the capes, and no one really knew where to start.

"Go and find out. And what's going on in that school. For some reason, spy satellites can't see into the grounds properly. Or all they see is a rotating set of images. Good..."

"... But not quite good enough." Huntress grinned.

"One more thing, Huntress. Take that costume off. If I can spot it, they might."

Huntress glared. "Aye, aye Capt'n."

Huntress rode the last 20 miles to the academy, having driven her bike out of the back of Aerie One while it was still moving. She grinned at the memory of Oracle's cry of "Helena!", but loved the speed rush. She also loved the challenge of racing the bike up winding and tree-lined roads, and the sight of the lush green fields to either side.

When she got within a couple of miles of the school, two other bikes appeared and flanked her. Both were ridden by young girls, and based on the way they were matching her turns and speed they both had superb reflexes. But neither of them seemed to mean ill other than the challenge, and although her bike was the best of the three (although she suspected that the old one was actually blueprinted), she couldn't get more out of it without a danger of a crash. But this was fun.

The three bikes rode up to the school, although it looked to Helena more like a mansion. Helena turned into what looked like the bike parking lot and again the two girls turned beside her. The taller one on the apparently old bike dismounted and took off her helmet, revealing long brown hair.

"Miss Bertolini?" Helena nodded. "I'm Dawn Summers. This way please."

Helena followed Dawn through the wide front doors and looked round the entrance hallway. It looked almost as she'd expected, with a large glass chandelier in the centre of the hallway, and polished floors and decorated walls. However, instead of the pictures she was expecting, the entrance way was covered in arms and shields – and all the weapons she could see were sharp, well maintained, and easily removable from the wall. But Dawn's eyes looked too bright for a cult, even if she could see a shadow of pain in them.

Dawn turned round and looked at Helena. "Your first interview is sparring with me. This way please."

Helena spluttered. It was quite obvious that these people, whoever they were, wanted to keep her off balance for the interviews, and she mentally thanked the Bat for making sure that there wasn't much she couldn't cope with. She watched Dawn more carefully, and realised that she moved like a dancer rather than a martial artist. But then so did Nightwing, and he wasn't someone to take lightly – and there wasn't too much difference anyway.

Dawn turned down the corridor, again wood furnished and decorated with distinctly utilitarian weapons, and into a small dojo. The only thing Helena found odd about the corridor, other than the decorations, was the complete absence of breakable objects. But it registered on Huntress that Oracle should have checked in by now.

"Coat and shoes off" said Dawn, proceeding to leave hers on a chair. Dawn was now dressed in a loose white t-shirt and riding leathers – the padding probably being useful for sparring. "I'm one of the weakest fighters here and you're a student of Richard Dragon's. Three falls out of five or we think you've lied to us."

Dawn waited for Helena to join her on the mat then bowed. After Helena returned the bow, Dawn started stepping almost in an "n" shape before dropping onto her hands for a kick at Helena's knees.

Huntress cartwheeled over and mentally blessed Dick for insisting on teaching her Capoeira. Although she was far from an expert in it, it was somewhat unusual if you weren't prepared. She landed on her feet and launched a slow crescent kick at where Dawn's head was.

Dawn, of course wasn't there. "You know Capoeira then?" Dawn grinned, pivoting on one foot. "It's one of the few they'll fully teach me because it's a dance and a game." Dawn's leg swept towards Huntress's ankles, and Huntress jumped.

"It's not my favourite, but yes." Huntress and Dawn continued to trade telegraphed blows, and Dawn kept chattering. After a couple of minutes, Dawn paused and offered cupped hands to Huntress. Knowing what that meant, Huntress stepped forward and put one foot into Dawn's hands and pushed off for a double back sumersault. She twisted and leaned back on landing to let Dawn's spin kick pass within inches of her head, and used the way she was off balance to set up a snap kick touching Dawn lightly on the spine.

"Point" said Dawn, grinning and already drenched with sweat.

If Dawn really was the weakest of the fighters, as she seemed to be saying, Helena was impressed – she'd faced black belts who were slower, less graceful, and less resourceful. Still, you couldn't hang around Gotham without picking a few things up, and Helena had won four out of the five points. But Dawn had barely given her time to catch her breath before showing her into the interview room and scampering off to have a much-needed shower.

Behind the desk were four of the six people Oracle had briefed her on. Robin Wood, the headmaster of the school. Dark skinned, athletic build, and holder of at least three black belts. Dressed in a fairly normal dark suit. Also, despite being the headmaster, the outsider of the group. Rupert Giles, the senior member of the group, and probably the most dangerous one. Deputy Head and school librarian, and probably the backer.

Finally the two kids, Willow Rosenberg and Alexander Harris. The first was a fairly shy looking redhead who was almost certainly Salix ("That's not the name she uses now, but no hacker should ever use a translation of their name"). But for all the shyness, Helena could see the watchfulness in the eyes, and the scars, and realised that she was not harmless. Especially if she could keep Oracle out of her systems (and where was Oracle anyway?). As for Alexander, he was known not to the the brightest of the group, but certainly shouldn't be overlooked – particularly as Oracle had given her a last minute warning that "Xander" Harris (and Willow Rosenberg and Rupert Giles for that matter) had files classified Paper Only, much to Oracle's frustration.

Mr. Giles looked up. "Ah, nice to meet you – and I hope you had a good workout with Dawn. Now, tell me something about yourself – and in particular where an English teacher learned to fight like that. I know you didn't mention Capoeira on the application form."

Helena winced internally. With hindsight, it probably wasn't wise to have matched Dawn's Capoeira as Mr. Giles seemed far too sharp. She saw Willow mutter something and her eyes flash, and a tiny shudder Helena associated with magic ran down her spine. She opened her mouth to reply.

Helena relaxed slightly as three of her four interrogators left the room, leaving her alone with Mr. Giles. She had realised after about three sentences that she was completely unable to lie in this interview, and had been concentrating on not mentioning the words "Huntress", "Oracle", "The JLA", "The Outsiders", "Batman", "Black Canary" and a few others. Fortunately, her interrogators seemed more interested in whether she was a real teacher and her experience, turning over why she had been fired in Gotham in minute detail. And whether she might endanger kids. And whether she had real combat experience. And more other things than Helena cared to think about. While she had been concentrating on not giving things away. (And have you ever played "Don't think of the elephant?"). The one thing that surprised her was the emphasis on her views about metas – possibly that's what this school was about.

But still, two hours of such interrogation made this probably the most exhausting mission she had ever faced – although she suspected they weren't trained interrogators, they made a formidable team with Xander goofing around most of the time and throwing some extremely penetrating questions when not expected, Willow babbling (and reminding her of Impulse) and throwing very penetrating questions, and Giles mostly watching, but missing nothing. She paused for a minute to recover.

"I'm impressed." Helena had forgotten that Giles was still in the room. "Very few people could cope with that interrogation. And if you still want it, the job's yours – but we have a final test if you want the job."

"A chance to actually teach girls to protect themselves as well as to teach? And no problems if I get bruises from dealing with muggers? I'm in." To her surprise, Helena realised that this was true.

"In which case, can I show you round the school. And before I forget, your devices are about to start working."


End file.
